Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CENGR 1210 LAB

(Elementary Surveying)

Field Work No. 1

DETERMINING HORIZONTAL DISTANCE BY PACING

OBJECTIVE:
a. To determine the individual pace factor.
b. To determine the horizontal distance of a line by pacing.
c. To become familiar with using steel tape to measure approximate horizontal
distances.
d. To become familiar with keeping notes in a field book.

EQUIPMENT:
a. Steel tape
b. Field book
c. Marking tools
d. Range poles

PROCEDURES:
1. DETERMINING PACE FACTOR
a. Select a straight and level course.
b. Using a steel tape to measure, mark the ground at 0m, 20m, 40m, and
60m stations. Ensure that they are in a straight line.
c. Walk over the course at your natural pace starting with either heel or toe
over station 1 (0 m) and count the number of paces to reach station 2 (20
m). Record the number of paces as trial 1 on your field book.
d. For the next trial, walk from station 2 to 1 then from station 1 to 2 again
until 5 trials are completed. Record the number of paces accordingly.
e. Pace off the remaining distance (i.e.: 0 to 40, and 0 to 60) a total of 5
times.
f. Determine the mean number of paces by dividing the sum of the number
of paces performed on each course by the number of trials.
g. Calculate the average length of your pace (pace factor).
 2. MEASURING DISTANCE BY PACING
a. Select a straight and level course.
b. Walk over the course 15 paces starting with either heel or toe. Mark your
start and end points.
c. Using a steel tape, measure the length of your course. Record the length
as trial 1 on your field book.
d. Repeat steps b and c four times (total of five trials).
e. Calculate the average taped distance.
f. Calculate the percentage error of the paced distance (observed) to the
average taped distance (actual).

RESULTS:
DISCUSSION:

a. What are the practical uses of knowing your pace factor?

Knowing your pace factor is kind of important, especially in engineering,

architecture or any fields associated with surveying, because you may use it if
you don’t have an equipment that can measure a long distance of course or a
line. Using an individual’s pace factor is the best alternative method for assessing
a long or large area. It gives an advantage since it doesn’t require any equipment
in measuring a route. But its biggest disadvantage is it only offers estimation of
the true measurement and gives inaccuracy. Knowing your pace factor and
practice measuring by pacing is very useful for sketching and estimating the area
you desired to assess.
 b. What are the possible sources of error and their types on this exercise?

By conducting the activity, I can say that the possible sources of error are the
environment (natural error) and my limitations (personal error). Although the sky is
mostly cloudy, I still feel the heat and sunrays which slightly affects my eyesight for
the reason that my eyes are sensitive to sunlight, this which may lead in creating
error in reading the measurement. The atmosphere is dead calm and no hint of wind
so it makes me quite exhausted when walking back-and-forth to the different stations
which I think give rise to the possibility of error in counting the paces. I also think that
instrumental error is present since the steel tape’s lock slightly damaged making the
tape a bit shaky; and the crayons I used as marking tool is quite hard to write on
concrete road. These errors are systematic in type.

c. Does the orientation of the course (level, or inclined) affect the measurement
using pace factor? If yes, how?

Yes, I do believe that the orientation of the course affect the measurement
using pace factor because it is harder to walk in an inclined course than on a
level course. Also, I observed that when we are walking in an inclined area, we
tend to have a bigger steps compared to usual pace. Furthermore, an inclined
course contains a vertical length which affects the overall distance of the course
that being measured causing a difference in the calculation of the pace factor.

d. Based on the percentage error, is your computed pace factor reliable? Why?

Yes, based on my computation, I can positively say that my computed

pace factor is pretty reliable. When we are measuring something in an
experiment, the percentage of errors tells how big the error in the measurement.
Smaller value means that the measurements are close to the accepted
value/average value. Since my calculated percentage error only ranging 0.18-
0.82% and no more than 1% which is a very small value, it means that it has a
low error and high level of accuracy. Since the result is accurate and precise,
therefore, the calculated pace factor is reliable.

CONCLUSION:
 In conclusion, One’s pace factor is obtained by counting the number of pace
covered in a measured distance for numerous times, computing the mean pace and
dividing it to the taped distance. Determining the pace factor will have a great help in
measuring or estimation a certain area desired to measure or sketch. On the other
hand, determining the percentage error of the pacing will help to discover if one’s pace
is reliable for measuring. The pacing method can be applied to future surveys once the
pace factor has been determined.
Since the desired result was obtained, I therefore conclude that the goal and
objective of this activity have been completely met. The fact that the paced distance on
the second part of the activity (measuring distance by pacing) was very precise and
nearly identical to the average taped distance shows that the computed paced factor
was appropriate and that the pacing method is still accurate when predicting field
measurements.

DOCUMENTATION:

MATERIALS

LOCATION
PROCEDURE